The End of gods: Chapter 3 – Unexpected Bond

“Disobedience of due worship or rebellion against any god of the pantheon can result in imprisonment, enslavement, or death. In their domain of light, the gods can bring justice to any place brought to their attention almost immediately by their loyal slaves who the god of retribution sees through. These slaves are placed all over the Land of Bliss and make sure that no crime is left unpunished so that everyone can live in peace and comfort.”

-          According to the Final Testament of the gods

Chapter 3 – Unexpected Bond

It doesn’t take as much time as Killian thought it would to get used to being in the Void. In fact, the dark sunlight of the Void feels more natural to him than the bright mornings that he’s used to. Now that his eyes have adjusted to the dark, everything looks quite normal and not as ominous and while looking back at where he came from, he sees that the light outside the Void is way brighter than he remembered it being as if the light were blinding him to its true nature. Gregory leads Killian to a small village. A lot catches Killian’s interest including the recognizable symbols of the one true God that the village uses on the front of their small churches.

“So, what do you think? This isn’t much compared to what they have at the Crown at the top of the world, but at least people here are honest at the bottom,” Gregory says.

“No, this is good. There does look to be honesty here compared to the Crown. Those symbols on the churches. They seem familiar to me. It’s like they’re waking something up in me.”

“That’s God opening your mind back up to the truth. I hope He can instruct you in finding your place here. Perhaps you can help us converting your friends and the other people from the Crown.”

“They came here with us?”

“Not willingly. God has given us the ability to transport them here through the darkness and put them in prisons where we can try to convert them.”

“How’s that been so far?”

“Not easy, but we do manage to convert some.”

“I can try-ow! What is it?”

“What is what? Oh, is that?”

Gregory watches as the vine of black thorns crawls out of Killian’s sleeves and starts to move his hand down and in different directions. While this is happening, Killian is thankful that the vine doesn’t show the golden ring that it has.

“Um. I don’t know how to explain this thing, but ow! It’s trying to move my hand in different directions.”

“Let it! It’s a relic from God that Valerius once had that was handed to him by St. Matteo the Black Thorn. How did you get it?”

“Some mysterious man robed in black gave it to me before he disappeared.”

“I knew my nephew went to Heaven and is still helping us. God is trying to tell us something through this gift.”

Killian does as Gregory says and lets the vine direct his hand as it makes Killian draw a strange mask that has a smile on it.

Gregory recognizes it after thinking about where he’s seen it and says, “That’s Eliza’s old mask! God wants you to visit her.”

“Eliza? You mean St. Eliza?”

“That’s her though she really isn’t a saint since she’s still alive. I can show you where she is.”

“That’d be great! I’ve been wondering where she was since it’s said that she wanders the world to bring evil to justice. She’s my hero.”

“Well, the tales are exaggerated. Try not to be disappointed when you meet her.”

Gregory and his troop of crows lead Killian while they continue to talk about what goes on in the village and Eliza.

“I have met her before,” Killian says as he begins to remember the memories that the gods have blocked off.

“You have? Let’s hope she remembers you too. She’s not the nicest person to talk to,” Gregory confesses.

“Why’s that?”

“She feels guilty because of the world that she’s created with all these men and women who play gods in their own controlled paradise.”

“I’m sure I can change her if God wants me to see her.”

“You do that and call out to us if you need any help.”

“Okay?” Gregory leads Killian to a cave that’s not too far from the village and backs away a fair distance from it once Killian enters it. “What? You guys can’t be that afraid of her.”

“You don’t know her that well, kid. God be with you.”

Confused, Killian enters the cave and calls out to Eliza. She surprises him by grabbing him as she exits the darkness. Eliza appears to be similar to the way she was when Killian first met her with her strange white mask that has an ominous smile, her black and white hair, and six arms that were called a blessing by God. She’s dressed in black rags and her piercing eyes suggest that she may be angry or sad.

“Who are you? Another lacky of Gregory and Basil?” she asks.

“No, my name is Killian. Who’s Basil?” Killian asks.

“Gregory’s…brother. Killian…” Eliza says as she removes Killian’s helmet, “I remember you. You were a boy when we first met.”

“I’m an adult now. I thought we met hundreds of years ago.”

“Hundreds of years? Pfft! Is that a new lie that the so-called gods have said to increase their ego? It’s only been ten years.”

“Ten years? That does make more sense to me given my memories.”

The vine of black thorns crawls out of Killian’s sleeves and presents the golden ring to Eliza.

“What’s this?”

“Hey, what are you doing?” Killian asks the vine.

“A black thorn…a golden ring…”

The realization of what is being conveyed makes Eliza laugh hysterically. Gregory and his crows creep up to see what is happening and Killian silently makes a motion for them to go back to where they were and they follow his instruction.

“What is it?”

“Don’t you hear what God is trying to tell you?”

“I never Him say anything to me. I guess you could say that He does talk to me through feelings and noises.”

“Feelings and noises? No. This is too ridiculous that it somehow makes sense.”

“What am I being told?”

“Open your eyes. He wants you to marry me.”

“Marry you? I’m not sure if I’m worthy to marry a woman like you.”

Again, Eliza hysterically laughs until she says, “Worthy to marry a woman like me? I thought I was listening to God when I was really listening to myself, I killed my husband with his own limbs, and if that wasn’t enough, when I repented, I killed a family on my way here because I was jealous of their happiness. Do you really think that I am worth marrying?”

“God thinks so, so yes?”

Eliza laughs as she removes her mask then says, “Look at my face. This burned and scarred face made me into the woman I was. You know, I owe you for that kiss and hug that you gave me all those years ago. Let’s see how you like kissing a disgusting face like mine.”

“You’re…beautiful.”

Killian sees that the burns and scars that Eliza once had are nonexistent and she is stopped by Killian’s honesty.

“You…that’s not going to stop you from getting kissed.”

Eliza tightly holds Killian and kisses him. He’s resistant to her at first but slowly accepts her since she’s who he’s meant to be with. After kissing him, Eliza looks down at the reflection of her face in his armor and realizes that he was telling the truth.

She lets go of him and feels her own face as she says, “It’s true! I’m back to normal! All these years of penance have finally healed my scars!”

“I wasn’t lying.”

“You weren’t lying…I guess God really has forgiven me of my sins and my penance is complete, but…now what do I do?”

“Marry me?”

“Be-besides that.”

“This vine is starting to pull me away from the cave, so I guess we’ll see soon enough.”

“I can’t…I don’t know if I can leave here. I’ve been hearing voices that say that I’ll lose my arms if I leave the cave, and I’m not sure if it’s God or the Deceiver.”

“Who do you think gave you the arms?”

“I think the Deceiver did because I’ve done nothing but evil with them.”

“Then it’s a good thing that you’ll lose them.”

“But wait. I won’t be useful to you. What good would I be to you if I don’t have any arms or legs?”

“We’ll figure it out. I’ll carry you to wherever we need to be.”

The blind optimism in Killian’s voice convinces Eliza to trust him. Her arms begin to fight against her as the hold the back of the cave as she pushes against them. Killian helps pull her away as she screams as it literally feels like she is tearing her arms off. Eventually, the pain ends as her six arms come off and burn into ash. Gregory and his crows come running to help Killian as they bring Eliza back to the village. They let a doctor look at her and the doctor says that she will be okay as the wound where the arms were is gone despite the massive amount of bleeding that happened when her arms came off.

As Eliza rests, Killian tells Gregory everything that happened and what he learned. Even though Gregory laughs at the idea of them getting married, he agrees that if God wills it then it should be done, however, Killian says that they should get married later since the vine of black thorns has been slightly tugging him to move on every now and then. Once Eliza and Killian are well rested and fed, Eliza is strapped to Killian’s back and they head off in the direction that the vine and Killian’s feelings are leading him.

“Did you really have to bring me with you like this?” Eliza embarrassingly asks.

“This is the only way without restricting me from using my sword. It’s not like you’re against coming with me either,” Killian says.

“I admit that I’d rather be with you rather than wait for you to come home from your journey especially since we’re supposed to be getting married. Still, I’d rather have us get to know each other better some other way, but I guess that’s me still fantasizing about what a normal life should be.”

“I’ll try to make us live as happy a life as possible. I promise you that.”

“Do you know where we’re going and for what reason?”

“No, other than God wants us to go this way.”

“Okay then. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Despite saying this, Eliza hopes that what Killian said is true as she believes that he wants to do what’s best even though it doesn’t seem possible, which is something that reminds her of herself.